Kieran O'Connor
Names: Kieran O'ConnorKierO'ConnorchiefKieranthe BossDaddyher fatherDadPapaKieran Warbucks
First appears in Book 1: Intervention, chapter 5 (4)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: Intervention
- Ch 5Kieran is a nine-year-old boy in South Boston in 1953 who can read minds and feel others' pain telepathically.
- Ch 5Kieran can kill small creatures with his mind: he kills flies feeding on the dying dog, then kills the dog itself to end its suffering.
- Ch 5Kieran uses mental force to make Mr. Dugan leave; Dugan obeys and walks away.
- Ch 5Kieran fears being taken along into the death of someone whose dying pain he shares.
- Ch 5Kieran realizes that putting a suffering creature out of its misery can be simple, and wonders why his mother made dying complicated.
- Ch 17Kieran O'Connor, about thirty and a Harvard law graduate, can speak into minds and control others' bodies and actions from a distance.
- Ch 17Kieran staged the skyjacking himself: he brought the gun aboard and made a chosen man play the skyjacker, to introduce himself to Big Al.
- Ch 17Kieran has researched the economics of the Mafia's nationwide organisation and knows details of the Five Families' New York operations.
- Ch 17Kieran offers Big Al his special talents in exchange for an arrangement, claiming he needs Big Al and that Al cannot harm him.
- Ch 23Kieran is the young consigliere of the Chicago Camastra Family and uses telepathic coercion to control others' minds.
- Ch 23As a boy in Boston, Kieran ended his dying mother's agony by killing her with a mental burst; the memory haunts him.
- Ch 23Kieran has salvaged and bonded damaged people like Pakkala, Cassidy and Grondin as loyal followers, and hopes to find and bind others.
- Ch 23Kieran believes people like him make their own luck and their own reality.
- Ch 23Kieran spares the dons, intending instead to force peace between Chicago and the Falcone Family and persuade them to revive the Commission.
- Ch 23Kieran touches the heads of LoPresti and Porcaro, after which both men are dead, with their eye sockets streaming dark fluid.
- Ch 23Kieran describes the killings as not revenge but simple justice, a restoration of order.
- Ch 23Kieran and the two men with him vanish suddenly from the opera hall after the killings.
- Ch 25O'Connor is regarded by the Lylmik as a perverse operant who uses higher mind-powers aggressively and for personal gain.
- Ch 33Kieran is a 46-year-old mentalist with powerful psychic abilities including coercion, healing and farsense; he uses them to control people and read distant minds.
- Ch 33Kieran works from a 104th-floor office in Chicago's Congress Tower and was born poor in Boston, educated at Harvard and apprenticed in a Manhattan law firm.
- Ch 33Kieran was Big Al's consigliere and is now Acting Boss of the Chicago Outfit, tentatively approved by the Commission to succeed Al when he retires.
- Ch 33Kieran plans to use a venture-capital pool and takeover firms to buy defense contractors, betting on a renewed arms build-up, and says he will protect the investment.
- Ch 33Kieran is a widower; his wife Rosemary and daughter Kathleen are dead, and his surviving daughter Shannon is a moody fifteen-year-old resisting initiation into his world.
- Ch 34O'Connor is a Chicago crime boss and coercer with a psychic influence sphere under fifty yards, who employs Finster to investigate the Remillards.
- Ch 34O'Connor considered either filing Victor for future reference or inviting him into his criminal coalition.
- Ch 49Kieran is a telepathic, coercive metapsychic who hosts the political meeting at his mansion in Du Page County and secretly manipulates the Republican nomination.
- Ch 49Kieran used his mental powers and Mafia connections, transferring Mob assets into legitimate business while hiding his tracks; he is Aldo Camastra's son-in-law.
- Ch 49Kieran owns McGuigan-Duncan Aerospace and intends to manipulate Baumgartner as a controllable president; he wants the metapsychic movement kept out of government.
- Ch 49Kieran says he must bond his daughter Shannon, because otherwise she may descend into madness or self-destruction.
- Ch 49Kieran believes that when normals learn what operancy really means, they will try to kill operants.
- Ch 49Kieran uses a subliminal command to prevent Shannon from voluntarily closing her mental barriers until he releases her.
- Ch 49Kieran learned to bond hurt minds to himself instinctively long before Shannon was born.
- Ch 49Kieran sexually abuses his own daughter Shannon, which he frames as an ancient mystery called the hierogamy and as a paternal instinct.
- Ch 49Kieran jokes that if he were the Earth Boss he could supervise things well from his study.
- Ch 55Kieran is a secretly operant (telepathic) power broker who directs a hidden organization backing General Baumgartner as a Republican presidential candidate.
- Ch 55Kieran intends to make Baumgartner the organization's millennial candidate for 2000, and needs him to believe operants are a threat to normal humanity.
- Ch 55Kieran foresees the death of the Soviet General Secretary, civil war in Uzbekistan and a hard-liner Politburo takeover, which would convince Baumgartner of Russian aggression.
- Ch 55Kieran overrides Griffith's mental objection to the Moscow plan, warning that he will do what suits his purposes.
- Ch 55Kieran plans a Chicago test case to get operant employee screening by corporations ruled unconstitutional, and wants loyal operants kept in government.
- Ch 56O'Connor is an American archcapitalist and Finster's master, and an enemy of metapsychic globalism, sharing that viewpoint with Kumylzhensky.
- Ch 56O'Connor plans to incite antioperant feeling by making assassinations of leaders look like an operant conspiracy.
- Ch 56O'Connor is Finster's master and can kill by cooking brains or stopping hearts.
- Ch 58Kieran, Chicago's Boss of Bosses, accepted Victor's idea in principle, seeing the process as a lever to corner world energy and Victor as an ally or victim.
- Ch 59Kieran, a hidden maverick operant and business magnate, bonds chosen operants to himself through seduction or drugs, and kills those who recognize the process.
- Ch 59Kieran has killed 183 natural operants and bonded 46; his agents include the assassin of the Russian Premier and the Grand Mufti of Central Asia.
- Ch 59Kieran controls over a hundred corporations and owns four Senators and nineteen Representatives; he fosters war to justify his Zap-Star satellite defense system.
- Ch 59Kieran fears organized metapsychic education would expose him as an operant, so he backs antioperant politics and the Sons of Earth against Piccolomini's Brain Trust.
- Ch 61O'Connor is a powerful conservative normal with an opaque mind, who publicly claims to oppose the antioperant hysteria and offers to help Tremblay's campaign.
- Ch 61O'Connor secretly hypnotizes Tremblay into a trance, presenting himself as a father/lover figure and preaching a nihilistic creed of darkness, the Absolute and destruction.
- Ch 61O'Connor reveals he and his associates put Baumgartner in the White House, and claims Baumgartner listens to him though lately less so.
- Ch 61O'Connor's real aim is for Tremblay to covertly coerce Baumgartner into continuing antioperant legislation while Tremblay poses as a liberal champion of operants.
- Ch 61O'Connor is Shannon's father and Tremblay's father-in-law; he was born in Massachusetts and attended Harvard.
- Ch 62Old friend and long-time supporter of the Baumgartners; he says it will be up to Gerry, who had better not let them down.
- Ch 65O'Connor led a secret operant cabal and used Tremblay and Senator Scrope to advance his aims; his role in the plot was never proved.
- Ch 65O'Connor was Shannon's father; he later learned that Shannon had betrayed Gerry, unlike Gerry himself.
- Ch 68Kieran is terminally ill with metastasized cancer, and refuses palliative treatment, saying he has lived with pain all his life and will keep his power.
- Ch 68Kieran is a powerful operant with an adamantine mental screen, and intends to try to redact his illness through mind over matter.
- Ch 68Kieran is devoted to the Black Mother, seeing his illness as her jest and a sign that he is the one she loves most.
- Ch 68Kieran orders Presteigne to tell his daughter Shannon that the diagnosis was a false alarm and that he is fine, and plans to return to Chicago.
- Ch 68Kieran privately thinks he can bear anything for good reason, except disloyalty.
- Ch 70Kieran O'Connor owns a heavily fortified Illinois estate staffed by bonded operants and runs a multinational aerospace conglomerate.
- Ch 70O'Connor hopes to sell Victor the secret Zap-Star access code in exchange for help destroying the operant leadership; he suspects he has been betrayed.
- Ch 70Shannon says O'Connor's agents abetted terrorism and provoked wars so that a satellite defense system would be built.
- Ch 71Shannon accuses O'Connor of being a secret powerful operant who manipulated politicians, coerced Baumgartner into running, and built a clandestine Zap-Star control center.
- Ch 73Kieran is physically dying, sallow and in constant pain, but sustains himself by will power until he chooses to end what he began.
- Ch 73Kieran faces a federal investigation seeking evidence of treason, racketeering and murder against him, pushed by Victor's older brother Denis and Denis's partisans.
- Ch 73Kieran offers Victor his whole empire in exchange for helping destroy the metapsychic leadership; he secretly conceals a hidden motive tied to the Absolute and prays to the Black Mother.
- Ch 73Kieran's mind holds a soothing black void, in contrast with Shannon's fiery mind, though his eyes have the same ardor as hers.
- Ch 75Kieran is dying and uses a painkilling device wired into his nervous system; he prays to Kali with a mantra.
- Ch 75Kieran evaded Justice Department surveillance by a convoluted flight route to reach New Hampshire secretly.
- Ch 75Kieran is transferring his assets and the Zap-Star override access code to Victor in exchange for Victor's help in a final scheme, including his own participation.
- Ch 75Kieran knew all along about Shannon's duplicate mind-screen and secret thoughts; he calls Victor his heir to the night.
- Ch 76O'Connor has terminal testicular cancer and secretly transferred control of his empire to Victor Remillard via a Canadian dummy holding company.
- Ch 77Kieran led the operants in an aggressive metaconcert that downed the attacking aircraft and derailed the train, deliberately goading the pacifist leaders into discovering their power.
- Ch 77Kieran, dying with his painkilling mechanism dead, refused to be probed, gave Victor cryptic warnings and a mystical raving about the Black Mother, then died screaming.
- Ch 77Kieran believes humanity will destroy itself without his group's impetus, and says he once thought himself the agent of destruction, then thought Victor would be Her deputy.
- Ch 77Denis publicly names Kieran as the real instigator of the attack, a powerful concealed natural operant in the military-industrial complex who profits from conflict and wants peace destroyed.
- Ch 78Kieran passed on the secret of mind-bonding to Victor during the cog railway trip up the mountain.
Book 2: Jack the Bodiless
- Ch 37O'Connor, a capitalist, conspired with Victor against the chalet; his body was found with seven chakra burns after the Intervention.
Book 4: Magnificat
- Ch 2Operant madman Kieran O'Connor conspired with Victor to murder delegates of the 2013 Congress at the Summit Chalet.
Connections
- family ofKieran's motherson
- family ofPason
- friend ofRosemaryintroduced as her boyfriend/dear friend
- family ofRosemary Camastra O'Connorhusband and wife
- family ofShannonfather and daughter
- member ofCamastra Familyconsigliere
- ally ofArnold Pakkalaexecutive assistant
- ally ofJase Cassidy
- ally ofAdam Grondin
- enemy ofVicenzu Falcone
- family ofAldo Camastrason-in-law; married Al's late daughter Rosemary
- family ofKathleenfather; Kathleen is deceased
- has memberArnold Pakkalaexecutive assistant
- has memberFabian Finsterconfidential agent
- leadsCamastra FamilyActing Boss
- ally ofNeville Garrett
- ally ofLen Windham
- leadsMcGuigan-Duncan Aerospaceacquired it
- leadsWarren Griffith
- leadsViola Northcutt
- ally ofVictorproposed merger
- enemy ofShannonsecretly hates him for bonding her
- family ofGerardson-in-law
- enemy ofGerardsecretly dominates and manipulates him
- related toGerardacts as O'Connor's agent and son-in-lawplaced command-inhibition compelling loyalty
- friend ofDoc Presteignepersonal physician and confidant
- related toArnold Pakkalaexecutive assistant
- related toAdam Grondinaide
- related toZap-Starsecretly controls via override
- related toCommand Posthis estate in Du Page County, Illinois
- has memberAdam Grondinsubordinate
- enemy ofDenis
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 5Kieran mercifully kills the dying dog
Feeling his dying mother's pain even outside, Kieran finds a dog crushed by a car, kills the flies, gives it milk, sends away Mr. Dugan with his mind, then ends the dog's suffering and covers its body.
- Book 1 · Ch 17Kieran O'Connor mentally confronts Big Al
At his anniversary party, Big Al is introduced to Kieran, who telepathically reveals the skyjacking was staged, offers his services and holds Al under mental control while he dances.
- Book 1 · Ch 17Skyjacking of Rosemary's plane
Rosemary's flight was skyjacked and Kieran apparently subdued the skyjacker with a blow; it is later revealed he staged the event himself.
- Book 1 · Ch 23Race across Manhattan
Kieran's team uses mental coercion to clear traffic and reach Lincoln Center from Kennedy while Kieran sleeps.
- Book 1 · Ch 23Confrontation at the Met
Kieran and his men mentally subdue LoPresti, Porcaro and guards in Montedoro's box, forcing Falcone to swear peace with Chicago while Montedoro witnesses.
- Book 1 · Ch 23Oakbrook car bomb
Porcaro's bomb in Kieran's Mercedes was triggered when Rosemary started the engine, killing her and apparently the younger child.
- Book 1 · Ch 23Kieran kills Falcone's henchmen at the opera
During Act Four of La Favorita, Kieran lays his hands on the paralyzed LoPresti and Porcaro, kills them, tells Falcone it is justice, and vanishes with his companions. Falcone then discovers the dead men.
- Book 1 · Ch 33Kieran briefs Finster on Remillard
After hearing Finster has secured Senator Scrope, Kieran sends him to Dartmouth to investigate Denis Remillard's ESP research and associates, warning of danger.
- Book 1 · Ch 33Kieran calms Big Al and unveils defense-takeover plan
Big Al arrives enraged over the unvetoed Piccolomini Law. Kieran coercively dismisses the bodyguards, soothes him, reports his Acting Boss status, and reveals his plan to buy defense contractors, winning Al's grudging laughter.
- Book 1 · Ch 34Victor captures Finster
Victor detects Finster, drifts his boat to the dock, makes him nearly shoot himself and drown, then spares him and orders him to tell O'Connor to stay away.
- Book 1 · Ch 49Nomination offer to Baumgartner
At Kieran's home, Cassidy lays out the party's strategy and offers General Baumgartner the 1996 Republican presidential nomination, amid predictions of an oil crisis and anti-metapsychic stance.
- Book 1 · Ch 49Shannon's water ballet
Shannon secretly comes home and performs an underwater dance with cut wrists. Kieran fights her mind, rescues her and bandages her wounds.
- Book 1 · Ch 49Shannon announces she is leaving
Shannon confronts Kieran over his Mental Mafia ambitions and announces she will leave for Dartmouth to join Remillard's program; Kieran begins explaining the persecution of metapsychics.
- Book 1 · Ch 49Kieran takes Shannon into his study
Kieran brings Shannon to his Command Post, gives her cognac-laced coffee, suppresses her ability to close her mind, and abuses her, planting a command that she forget.
- Book 1 · Ch 55Baumgartner concedes the 1996 election
Baumgartner concedes to Piccolomini in a televised speech while Kieran, Griffith and Viola watch and toast, content with a narrow defeat.
- Book 1 · Ch 55Kieran outlines plans for Baumgartner and Araña
Kieran plans to place Baumgartner at a foundation, secretly deep-scan him under a faked eye illness, launch Araña's antioperant crusade, and engineer a Soviet hard-liner takeover.
- Book 1 · Ch 58Victor proposes dynastic merger with O'Connor
Victor phones Kieran O'Connor to seek capital for the lignin process, offering a merger sealed by marriages of himself to Shannon and Pauline to Kieran then Griffith.
- Book 1 · Ch 59Shannon deceives Victor and reveals Kieran's methods
Shannon feeds Victor a decoy scheme while secretly scanning him, then reveals how her father bonds operants, showing him telepathically, and enlists his cooperation to bring Kieran down.
- Book 1 · Ch 61O'Connor hypnotically enslaves Tremblay
After offering campaign advisers, O'Connor puts Tremblay into a trance, indoctrinates him in a nihilistic creed, and implants a mission to covertly coerce President Baumgartner into pursuing antioperant policy.
- Book 1 · Ch 68Kieran's terminal diagnosis
Presteigne tells Kieran that tests show his cancer has metastasized. Kieran refuses hospital care, plans to resist the disease through redaction, and orders that Shannon be told it was a false alarm.
- Book 1 · Ch 70Victor visits O'Connor's fortress
Shannon brings Victor to her father's heavily secured Illinois estate; when she insults him he breaks her mind-screens and sees her hatred.
- Book 1 · Ch 70Zap-Star revealed
In O'Connor's command room, Shannon explains the Zap-Star satellite defense system, its secret override, and O'Connor's plan, then shows Victor its power.
- Book 1 · Ch 71Denis probes Gerry Tremblay
In a prison room shielded against bugs, Denis gets Gerry's consent, probes his mind about Kieran O'Connor's alleged conspiracy and Zap-Star, and tries to crack the loyalty inhibition. He then wipes Gerry's memory of the visit.
- Book 1 · Ch 73Kieran calls off the commandos
Laplace spots four armed men approaching; Kieran angrily orders Adam Amie to withdraw them and the limousine, saying he will meet Victor's conditions.
- Book 1 · Ch 73Kieran and Victor test minds and strike a deal
After a silent mental contest ends in a stalemate, Kieran offers Victor his empire in return for help killing the metapsychic leaders; Victor accepts and sends for his men.
- Book 1 · Ch 75Kieran hands over his empire to Victor
At the waterfall, Kieran gives Victor the case with the asset transfer and the Zap-Star code, asks him to show Shannon the proof, and lapses into unconsciousness while Victor leaves him sleeping.
- Book 1 · Ch 76Victor takes over O'Connor's empire
An SEC official notices a huge asset transfer to a Canadian dummy company controlled by Victor Remillard; the President tells Denis, who agrees to hunt for Victor and Shannon.
- Book 1 · Ch 76Cog train toward the chalet
Victor takes Rogi and O'Connor by cog train toward the chalet. Near Jacob's Ladder, Victor's aircraft approach and Rogi escapes, warning Denis of the attack.
- Book 1 · Ch 77Kieran O'Connor dies
In the wrecked coach, Kieran admits he forced the metaconcert to teach the pacifists their power, taunts Victor, speaks of the Black Mother and dies screaming.
- Book 4 · Ch 22013 Congress and the Great Intervention
Rogatien recalls the attack plot on the delegates at Summit Chalet. Denis united minds in a worldwide metaconcert, and starships appeared, inducting humanity into the Milieu.